Me and boyfriend are kinda obsessed with spending Sunday afternoons at Ikea. We love wandering and watching all the rooms and stuff they have. We also ate their famous meatballs with mashed potatoes a couple of times. Plus, you may know that, since we went visiting Göteborg last year, I'm kiiinda obsessed with Sweden and its baked goods (kardemummabullar *drooling*). So, how can I not develop my own recipe of easy Swedish meatballs (köttbullar) with a very simple gravy sauce?
Go grab some ground meat to your butcher, and let's make these together!
P.S. I love Ikea's ones but these are better lol
How these (and the original ones) easy Swedish meatballs are made
It was not a difficult recipe to "develop", actually. I was inspired by the original ones, which are made with: a combination of beef and pork, onion, breadcrumbs, egg, salt, pepper.
As you can see, the list of ingredients is not bad, it's also not bad if you buy Ikea's ones every once in a while.
What we don't know though is the origin of the meat. That's why I make my own: to have complete control of what I'm using (because I get the meat from my trusted butcher).
Back to the question, how are my easy Swedish meatballs made (in 10 minutes)?
- I first combine meat, onion, egg (yolk), breadcrumbs, salt and balck pepper.
- I then use an ice cream scoop to form meatballs
- I make them brown at medium heat, then cook at low heat. Remove from the pan. In about 10 minutes they're done!
- If you want to also make a gravy: add the ingredients to the same pan, let thicken, then add meatballs.
How can you not love a dinner that is ready in half an hour?
What to serve with Swedish meatballs
We like to keep it simple here: I love serving these Swedish köttbullar with mashed potatoes and sautéed green veggies (like spinach, or chicory).
For practical reasons (ahem, I mean I forgot to cook them), I haven't photographed them with veggies here, but I always love balancing our plate with greens.
Want to make it even more Swedish? Serve with a bit of slightly sour lingonberry jam/sauce!
Quick mashed potatoes recipe: 450 gr potatoes, 100 gr milk, 5/10 gr of butter (browned), salt.
Brown your butter then mash the boiled potatoes into the pot, add hot milk, salt and stir until you get no clumps. Done!
A Swedish meatball sauce without heavy cream
I don't like buying stuff to then throw it away. That's usually the case of heavy cream. I mean, if I buy it for clients' recipes, then I'm going to use it. If I buy it for myself, I'm pretty sure I won't (it's not an ingredient that we normally consume).
Having said that, most of meatballs sauces/gravy I've found out there are made with heavy cream (also sour cream). I wanted to use what I normally have at home.
Gravy is usually made from the juices of meats, milk or broth and then thickened with flour or corn starch.
This gravy is very basic indeed: I added some cornstarch to my pan that already had fat and a bit of juices, then gradually added broth (you can use both veggie or beef stock), a touch of milk and soy sauce to give that extra touch. Easy-peasy!
Can I freeze these meatballs?
Yes yes yes!
I usually make a batch in advance and then freeze them when still raw.
No need to defrost: cook them like you'd normally do, it will take just a little longer.
You can also try to cook them, then freeze and when you want to consume them, heat them into the oven! I suggest to make gravy afterwards.
If you make this recipe, please be sure to give it a rating and leave a comment! It would make me so happy! 🙂
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Easy Swedish Meatballs And Simple Gravy
Ingredients
For the meatballs:
- 400 gr Ground beef and pork
- 85 gr Minced onion - (approximately)
- 1 Egg yolk
- 50 gr Breadcrumbs
- Salt
- Black pepper
- 5 gr Extra virgin olive oil
- 5 gr Unsalted butter
For the gravy:
- 10 gr Cornstarch
- 250 gr Meat or veggie broth
- 25 gr Milk
- ½ tablespoon Soy sauce
Instructions
- First: did you know you can BOOKMARK this recipe and others so you can find them more easily?:) Takes seconds: you can log in (also w/ gmail) via that small icon on the right bottom corner.
For the meatballs:
- Add all the ingredients (except butter and oil) to a bowl and combine with your hands.
- When well combined, take an ice cream scoop and form meatballs: each scoop needs then to be divided in two. You'll get 23 meatballs.
- You can now freeze or cook them.
- To cook: in a pan, heat butter and oil at medium heat, then carefully place all your meatballs on the pan. Let them brown on one side.
- Flip them and let brown on the other side, then lower the heat and cover.
- Let them cook for about 10 minutes or until ready (no more pink inside!)
- Transfer meatballs on a plate, keep the juices/fat**** if the meatballs absorbed all the fats, add 10 extra gr of butter.
- In the same pan, add 10 gr of cornstarch and stir with a small whisk.
- Gradually add broth, then milk. KEEP whisking or lumps will form. Add soy sauce.
- After a couple of minutes, add cooked meatballs.
- Let gravy thicken.
- You're easy Swedish meatballs are ready!
Nutrition
If you liked this recipe I think you will love this Swedish dessert: my healthier cardamom buns!
© Healthy Little Cravings – Roberta Dall’Alba.
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Pamela says
Fourth time (4 weeks in a row) I am making these this, WE LOVE THEM!!!!!!
Roberta says
This makes me so happy Pamela!!
Gray says
I made the gravy with some meatballs I had in the freezer and wow!!!! Talk about kicking the meal up a notch!!! I never thought about adding soy sauce to my gravy before but it was perfect!!! Will deffo be doing this again
Roberta says
YOU MADE MY DAY! Thanks for trying them!:) they're quite an obsession around here!:)
Mandyb says
I made the gravy as I bought the ikea meatballs
The gravy turned out really well especially not needing the cream
Lovely
Roberta says
Ahahah yayyyy *_*
Thanks for making it Mandy!
x
Roberta
Jessica | 28-Day Keto Challenge says
WOW WOW WOW! I’m blown away by how good this turned out. My entire family loved it. I want to say ive made swedish meatballs 3 other times in my lifetime(one of which being a vegan version) and this recipe is by far the best batch i’ve ever prepared. All the times i made swedish meatballs the recipe didnt called for dijon mustard and that was the missing factor for that sour kick(i added extra dijon to my servings). Thanks so much for sharing this recipe. Next time i’ll sub the pork for turkey as i ought to be eating kosher.
Roberta says
Wow Jessica thanks you made my day!